the used
by shinigami cloudiko
Summary: (au) when Hotaru arrives in Tokyo, strange things begin to happen... There is an attack, and suddenly everything changes...
1. a meeting

Another story!!! Huzzah!! *cloudie dances* 

Well, this is an alternate universe story…so don't hurt me!! In this one, Hatoru is around…but she's older than in the manga and anime. Yeah, and there's an enemy that a friend of mine made up in here to create the drama/ create plot complications. As for Michiru and Haruka, they aren't going to make an appearance in this one…at least I don't think so…

Um…yeah. Enjoy – oh, and please don't forget to review! 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

the used

Chapter 1 – "a meeting"

~*~**~*~*~*~*~

"Hey Usagi, wait up!" 

The blonde girl turned around to see whom had called to her. It was bright – almost too bright for her liking. Usagi raised one hand to shade her eyes while she searched for a familiar face. 

Kino Makoto caught up to her friend, a little out of breath. She flipped her long auburn ponytail over her shoulder and smiled. "What brings you over this way?" 

Usagi sighed. "More note taking for my research paper…" The petite blonde noted the surprise in Makoto's features when she mentioned the words 'note taking' and 'research'. 

"Wow…you're really taking this paper seriously," commented the taller girl. Usagi's cheeks flushed a little and Makoto quickly reassured her friend, "Not that that's a bad thing, Usagi-chan." 

"So, what brings you to this part of Tokyo?" asked Usagi, "I thought you finished your paper a few days ago." 

Makoto nodded. "Well, it's not for research." The two began walking again and Mako continued with, "Actually, there's this new girl in town. She's starting classes at our school on Monday, and I volunteered to show her around parts of Juuban and around the school." 

"That's pretty nice of you," remarked Usagi, "considering you don't have a lot of free time…" 

"Yeah, between everything that's going on," Makoto agreed, "there isn't a lot of spare time." The tall girl stopped in the sidewalk and considered what she had just said. "Wow…I wonder how this is all going to work out…" 

Usagi stopped as well and tried not to sweatdrop. "You mean you haven't figured that out yet?"

Makoto shook her head in negatation. She smiled and said, "Well, I haven't even met her yet. She may already have someone to show her around." 

"Usagi, do you want to come with me to visit the new girl?" Makoto suddenly asked. "That is, if you want to put off your studying for a few more minutes." 

The blonde girl smiled. "Sure. That sounds great!" Usagi did a catlike stretch with her arms and nearly swatted a nearby pedestrian. "I'd love to meet someone new." 

*~~*~*~*~*~*

The two girls reached the apartment complex where the new student was supposed to be living. It was fairly new, still partially unpainted. Some of the name/number plates were missing on the doors Usagi and Makoto passed as they headed straight for the second floor. 

"She lives in number 301," Makoto said as they glanced at the numbers. 

"What's her name?" asked Usagi. "You keep referring to her as 'she' " 

Makoto paused to look at a piece of paper she held. "The new girl's name is Tomoe Hatoru. She's from somewhere in northern Japan." 

"Did the school give you any more information?" 

"No, why?" wondered Makoto. 

Usagi shook her head. "Never mind." _That's strange…no information about her other than her name. _"Here it is," she said a moment later, pointing to the silver name plate on the door. As Usagi repeated the name in her head, a strange feeling of familiarity overcame her. _How is she familiar? _Usagi wondered. _I've never met her before._

Makoto's knocking disturbed Usagi's musings. Her knock was answered by a young girl – one that looked too young to be in high school. If this was Hatoru, she had a certain strange beauty in her short dark hair, creamy skin, and deep purple eyes. 

"Are you Tomoe Hatoru?" wondered Makoto. 

"Yes," came the response. "Are you two from the high school?" 

So she knew they were coming after all. Usagi nodded. 

"Hold on," Hatoru said as she stepped out into the hall. She shut her apartment door behind her. As if to offer an explanation, she said, "My cat likes to sneak out." 

Usagi flashed her an understanding smile. 

"What do you need?" asked Hotoru. 

"We just wanted to get to know you better," Makoto answered, "Maybe show you around school or Juuban if you wanted." 

Hatoru brightened a little and gave a grateful smile. "Sounds good. If you would like to be friends though, I'm afraid I'll have to know your names first." 

Makoto smiled back. "I'm Kino Makoto." She held out her hand, which Hatoru shook lightly. 

"And I'm Tsukino Usagi," added Usagi. She too held out her hand, and Hatoru shook it as well. When she did however, the feeling of familiarity grew stronger. _What is going on? Why do I feel like this moment has happened before? _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next day, Usagi met her friends at school. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't really followed up on her original study plans of the day before.

"Usagi, I'm surprised your mom didn't ground you for not following up on your plans at the library," remarked Ami. 

"Well, it's not as if – " Usagi began, but was cut off by Rei.

"Her mother should be used to this kind of behavior by now," the raven-haired girl cut in, "I knew this new Usagi wouldn't last long anyway." 

"Thanks for putting words in my mouth," Usagi said dryly. "As I was saying, it's not like I was purposely skipping out on studying. Mako-chan and I went to meet a new girl who is supposed to start school here today." She looked over at Makoto, who looked deep in thought. "Right Mako-chan?" 

No response.

Minako elbowed the tall girl standing next to her. It jolted Makoto out of her thoughts and back into reality again. "Uh…yeah, sure Usagi-chan.  

Rei rolled her eyes. Usagi resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at Rei and instead folded her arms. Minako and Ami gave one another a warning look as they sought other places to sneak off to if necessary. 

Makoto again lost herself in her thoughts. 

Minako noticed and waved her hand in front of Makoto's line of sight. "Mako-chan?" Another wave with no response. "You okay?" 

The worry in her friend's tone snapped Makoto out of her daze for the time being. "Yeah, just a little tired." 

"That would make two of us," muttered Usagi. _It's hard to sleep when you can't shake off the feeling of familiarity in the presence of a complete stranger._

Makoto heard Usagi and asked, "What'd you just say?" 

The intensity of her tone surprised the four other girls. "It was nothing," replied Usagi. 

Rei opened her mouth to say something when Minako elbowed her. Directly in front of the girl's little circle stood Hatoru. 

"Hello!" Usagi greeted her. 

"Hello," returned Hatoru. "It's nice to see both of you again." 

Makoto realized she had forgotten to greet the newest addition to the group. "Hi," she said casually, "I would like you to meet my friends." 

"I'm Mitzuani Ami," began the blue haired girl. "Nice to meet you." 

"I'm Aino Minako," Minako greeted the shy girl.

"And I'm Hino Rei," finished Rei. The priestess felt her sixth sense screaming at her…something about this girl… Rei suppressed the feeling it left. That feeling…of familiarity? Yet, at the same time an underlying emotion was there as well. The priestess couldn't put a finger on what it was, however Rei was sure of one thing: the second emotion wasn't a good one. 

Hatoru nodded unconsciously. "I'm Tomoe Hatoru. It's nice to meet all three of you." 

"Hey Usagi," a new voice said, joining the conversation. It was Umino, who fiddled with his glasses when an uncomfortable silence filled the air. 

"Hello Umino," Usagi responded after a few seconds. She looked over to catch the gaze of her friends, but few had valuable reasons. Ami gave Usagi a look – to remind her to introduce Umino to Hatoru. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm being rude." The blonde girl gestured to Umino saying, "Hatoru, this is Umino. Umino, this is Hatoru." 

The shy girl managed a faint greeting. Both Makoto and Usagi noted the unexpressed emotions playing on Hatoru's face. There was nervousness, fear, and loathing?

Umino noticed the tension that sprung up from a dead and dying conversation. "I hope you defy the odds and learn something here, Hatoru." 

The small, dark haired girl smiled warmly, all the previous emotion draining from her face. She laughed slightly. "So do I." 

Umino glanced at his watch and proceeded to excuse himself. Something about building a hamster house for the science teacher…(AN: dumb…maybe cloudie will take dumb hamster joke out. *sweatdrops*) 

The bell rang in the background. 

Hatoru hesitated before asking, "How did the five of you meet? Makoto was explaining that some of you went to different schools." 

Minako suppressed a sly smile. "I guess you could say we met by accident." 

"Actually, most of us ended up in the same junior high," elaborated Ami, "Rei was the only one who went to a private school." The blue haired girl favored Minako with a glare. 

The final bell rang, and the girls finally noticed that they were alone in the halls. As they scattered to their classes, Rei muttered, "Kami have mercy! My attendance record is going to be just as bad as Usagi's if we keep this up!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

That's all for now! Please review, I'll be eternally greatful!

-cloudiko


	2. suspicious

Author's notes are at the end of the page, minna-san. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

the used

Chapter 2 – "suspicious"

~*~**~*~*~*~*~

  
Makoto took a deep breath. 

This shouldn't be that difficult. It shouldn't, it shouldn't, yet it was. The strangest thing? She had never had a problem doing this beforehand. 

Come on. 

She had invited a few other people to the girls' study sessions in the past.

Actually…only one. But that one person had a good time. Makoto coughed at the memory. * sees memory of a male friend drifting off to sleep as the girls chatter about…stuff. At the sentence, "You think Shiniji is cute, right Kenji?" you see the guy give a bewildered look, stand, and explain he is going to the bathroom. He is not seen for the rest of the day. * In all reality… maybe not.

This was different, simply because Hatoru was a girl. Hopefully she wouldn't mind the girls' off- topic chatter. Makoto smiled to herself, repeating a mantra in her mind: _This _is_ a good plan…this is a _good_ idea. _

"Hello Makoto," greeted a familiar voice. 

The taller girl looked down and into the deep violet eyes of Tomoe Hatoru. "Oh, hello Hatoru." 

Another deep breath. _A _good _idea, a good idea…_

You think she'd be asking her crush to prom. This wasn't that big of a deal. 

"Uh, H- Hatoru?" began Mako, "do you want to come to a study session in the park today?" 

She braced herself for rejection, but was surprised to hear a, "sure, why not?" 

Sigh of relief.

"It's a 4:15 in the city park. Can you make it?" 

"Yes," came the response. "4:15. I'll be there." 

The tardy bell rang in the background. "Well, I'd better get going," said Hatoru quietly. "I don't want to be late again." 

Makoto nodded. "Bye Hatoru. See you later!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~*

The five girls sat under the late-afternoon shade of an apple blossom tree, awaiting the arrival of their guest. 

"Wow, she's late," Minako commented while looking at her watch.

"Kami-sama have mercy," agreed Rei, "She's even later than Usagi usually is!" 

Usagi shot Rei a dirty look. "Be patient. She'll be here." 

"If only you knew how many times those same words have saved your butt!" retorted the priestess. 

The blonde stood and started to brandish a fist. Rei also stood and muttered, "Odango, you have _no_ chance." 

"Rei, I'm going to ki –" 

"Isn't that Hatoru over there?" Makoto interrupted. She really hadn't been paying attention to the usual bantering between Rei and Usagi. Instead, the senshi of Jupiter had been searching for her newfound friend. 

"Hello!" Ami greeted the newest addition to their little group.

Rei and Usagi sat back down on the blanket, annoyed at one another and slightly embarrassed at the same time. 

Hatoru approached the group with a slight smile. She said simply, "Hello everyone." The small girl's gaze fell upon Rei and Usagi. Both were silent. "You two are both really close, right?" When she received a strange look, Hatoru continued, "Well, since you both always seem to be arguing – almost like sisters would." 

Everyone went quiet. Hatoru blushed. "I'm sorry, that was inappropriate." 

"No, no," Minako said gently. "It was a fair assessment." 

Usagi remained silent, but Rei suddenly spoke up. "What do you think of Tokyo so far?" She was attempting to lessen the strained atmosphere. "Makoto told me that you came from a city not even half the size of this one." 

The dark haired girl smiled. "Yes, I came from Akita with my father." Usagi noticed the same emotions [as when she had been introduced to Umino] replaying in Hatoru's violet eyes as she mentioned her father. "Tokyo is a beautiful place, Rei. I've never seen anything like it." 

"Anywhere in particular you like? It's a hard question, I know," Ami asked with her own gentle smile. 

Hatoru looked down at her hands. "I don't quite know yet. This makes three weeks since I've been in the city. Everything's so different that it's hard to choose one place. What places do you all like?" 

Usagi looked up and quietly replied, "the waterfront gardens. If you haven't been yet, I'll take you there sometime. They're beautiful all year round." 

"The mall," came Minako's response. She blushed slightly at her own comment. "I know, it sounds conceited and shallow, but it's a great place to meet people." 

"She means guys," crowded Makoto. The girls all laughed as Minako blushed a little darker. "As for me, I'd prefer a nice restaurant or even an ice-skating rink." 

Ami looked at her friends and said, "I love the district library." 

Everyone sweatdropped, except for Hatoru. 

"Ami needs to get out more," explained Minako, glad to have the embarrassment shifted to Ami's shoulders.

The blue haired girl rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to get the most out of things." She turned to Rei. "What's your favorite place in Tokyo, Rei?" 

Rei smiled to herself. "It may sound cheesy, but the shrine where I live." A look of anger tinged Rei's eyes however as she remembered the intrusion upon her privacy this morning by a certain apprentice of her grandfather's. 

"Rei?" Usagi asked, "Why is the vein popping out from your temple?" 

Rei put the breaks on her temper and internally counted to ten. "I'm fine, I just remembered I had to do something when I get back home." 

Usagi shrugged. 

The girls continued along this way for quite some time, trying to associate with their newest friend. Usagi however, could not shrug off the feeling of familiarity and deja vu that settled upon the group. Something about Hatoru's presence worried her…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~

Usagi sighed as she opened the door to her next class. However, she felt relieved immediately upon spotting an empty desk next to Hatoru. Usagi glanced at the clock and slid into her seat as the two-minute warning bell rang. Hatoru however, was distracted and hardly noticed her newfound friend.

Hatoru's short black hair made an effective vale to mask her expression. She was bent haphazardly over a thin drawing pad; concentration taking priority over comfort. The small girl's thin hands clutched a pencil so tightly that her fingertips and knuckles were tinted with white. 

After a few moments, Hatoru noticed Usagi's presence. "Hello, Hatoru," the blonde greeted her friend. "What are you sketching today?" Usagi gestured to the other students surrounding them, all engaged in talking and laughing. "Our classmates, maybe?" 

Hatoru's face darkened. She fought with herself to suppress the annoyance she felt; which left the girl with a thin façade of a smile on her face. "Hello Usagi," Hatoru responded, "And no…it's nothing. This is only a doodle."  

The dark haired girl reached into her school briefcase to try and deposit the drawing pad…without letting Usagi see what the paper contained. As if an act of Kami himself, as Hatoru was placing it into her bag, the pad dropped from her hand. Drawings scattered everywhere between the two desks. 

Hatoru was on her knees and retrieving drawings as quickly as possible. Usagi, who was trying to help, also got on her knees to help gather the papers. "I'll help you clean up," she said softly. If the dark haired girl had wished Usagi to see none of her drawings, it was far too late. 

Usagi gasped at the detail of the drawing in her hand. A beautiful woman was depicted upon the page, her long dark hair and gown flowing in an unseen wind. In one hand she held a dead lily of the valley, the petals drifting in the wind behind her. The strangest feature of this sketch was the strange symbol in the center of the woman's forehead, only penciled in. Usagi squinted to see what it was, at first appearing to be nothing more than a smudge. In actuality, the symbol was similar to that of a lower-case h. 

_What is that?! _Usagi thought in shock, unbelieving. _What does this symbol mean? _

As Usagi struggled to choke down her surprise, Hatoru came and joined her friend under the desk. "It's beautiful," muttered the blonde, unable to vocalize much more. 

Hatoru flushed. "Thank you." 

"W-Who is that?" managed Usagi. 

The dark haired girl supressed a measure of emotions. Usagi, although surprised, managed to decipher a few that showed in Hatoru's violet eyes. Hatred, love, pain, sorrow…

"My mother," came the quiet response, "before she was killed." 

"Was killed?" echoed Usagi in surprise. "What happened?" 

"A man came looking for her, when my father and I were out shopping. He killed her out of spite, and took something precious to her," Hatoru responded silently. "Something very important to her." 

"I'm so sorry…" was Usagi's sympathetic response. "I'm sorry, Hatoru." 

Hatoru smiled at her friend, despite the grief etched into her drawn features. "It was a long time ago," she said, looking at her hands. "It was horrible, yes. But m –" 

The bell rang for class to begin, interrupting Hatoru's sad tale. Usagi gave her friend a sad but encouraging smile, and handed Hatoru back the drawing. Both girls settled back into their desks, and Hatoru quickly stuffed the drawing pad into her briefcase. 

_So this is her sorrow…_thought Usagi as she listened to her English professor drawl on and on. _Her mother, murdered when she was a child? For something, but what would be so important to arouse the urge to kill for it? _

She snapped from her musings and pretended to look interested in the foreign words in the book. The teacher noticed that Usagi wasn't paying attention and forced her to read in front of the class. 

Usagi stared at her feet, reciting the words that were supposed to be memorized from a (second, and equally boring) English poet's novel. 

"Cruel with guilt, and daring with despair,  
The midnight murderer bursts the faithless bar;  
Invades the sacred hour of silent rest  
And leaves, unseen, a dagger in your breast." (**) 

As she was sitting down, a piece of white paper caught her eye. What was that? Usagi looked up at her teacher to make sure he had gone back to teaching before she quickly reached over and snatched up the piece of paper. 

It was another one of Hatoru's drawings. One mysterious, but not unlike the rest…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*

heh heh…*dodges rotten cat food* sorry for that cliffhanger…

Allo again everyone. 

I have a few more notes to add this time around, but please read them  - it might answer a few questions you might have. 

Study session in the park's importance: 

Stupid scene, yes. But, it did have a point. First, the senshi are trying to pry information from Hatoru without being too obtrusive. Oh, and Makoto's question about Tokyo is an attempt to see if Hatoru will allow anything to slip out. [Since Mako believes she's playing dumb, and hasn't scratched out the possibility that their new friend could be one of the Enemy.] 

It's not only Mako, Rei's prying for information too, only in her own way. She'll continue throughout the entire story in this manner – even after Hatoru's secrets are revealed. 

(**) = Poem by Samuel Johnson, courtesy of Encarta Encyclopedia

- until next time, *luv*, 

 cloudiko


End file.
